Fallout 76 gameplay observations and B.E.T.A news

At Bethesda’s event at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, select gaming media and Fallout content creators were invited for a three hour long hands-on of Fallout 76. You can watch GameSpot’s 50 minutes gameplay video below.

We were unfortunately not on the list, so we had to make do by watching the various gameplay videos that have since emerged from this event. Here are some of the things we have observed.

V.A.T.S

V.A.T.S has become a mainstay for the Fallout series since Bethesda picked it up with Fallout 3. The now classic, combat system that slows down time and allows for targeted body shots and cool cinematic kills. This, however, will not work in an online game, the V.A.T.S. system is extremely watered down, and from what we have seen thus far, V.A.T.S now functions as an aim assist that has a percentage chance to hit.

The World

The world itself will still feel familiar enough to anyone who has played Fallout 4. There are plenty of new enemies, one example is the Scorched which are similar to feral ghouls in a way, but they have the ability to use weapons. This is reminiscent of the Marked Men in Fallout: New Vegas’ Lonesome Road DLC. Super Mutants will also appear in this prequel. The world itself looks huge with multiple points of interest and distinct looks to them.

Source: GameSpot

General Gameplay

Crafting and the settlement building portion from Fallout 4 looks to have greater importance here in Fallout 76. Instead of actual settlements, players now have C.A.M.P.s (Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform). C.A.M.P.s are used to build bases; the cool thing is that these bases can be set up anywhere the players fancy.

With crafting and base building back again, lootable junk now plays an important role. Crafting materials are dropped when you are killed. You can reclaim these materials by going back to where you died. However, this opens up the possibility of players hunting and looting other players for materials. Looting other players is not confirmed as of right now.

Building on Fallout: New Vegas’ survival mode, players now have to manage their hydration and hunger. Eating and drinking are now essential to keeping your character alive which in turns make the cooking station a necessity. Weapon durability and radiation sickness are also something that players have to take note.

Players can trade with one another in Fallout 76. Most items seem to be tradeable except for story items. Looting seems to be player based instead of a shared loot cache. This means that individuals will always be able to get some loot from fallen enemies even if they were not the first to get to the body.

Availability

There is so much more we’ve not had a chance to see in Fallout 76. That’s why we are eagerly awaiting Fallout 76’s open beta or as Bethesda calls it, B.E.T.A. (Break-it Early Test Application). The B.E.T.A. will be available on October 23rd for Xbox One and October 30th for the PC and PS4.

The only way to join the beta will be pre-order the game on your preferred platform. The B.E.T.A. will run all the way to the official game launch on November 14th.

Fallout 76 is now available for pre-orders on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One.